The Espada Jinchuriki
by Hollow Lives
Summary: Naruto, having faced Pein and killed him, is left empty from the loss of his friends and with only an ancient fox to accompany him, will his soul stay pure or will it be corrupted by his guilt and rage. Will he become the monster that he had tried to deny he was for as long as he could remember.
1. Chapter Prologue -Death Isn't the End

**The Espada Jinchuriki**

 **Summary: Naruto, having died, becomes a hollow having suffered so much in his previous life… his world is changed however when he becomes a Hollow and then years later, an arrancar and a loyal follower of Sosuke Aizen. Though when he begins to meet old friends will his loyalty stay with Aizen or will it once again do towards protecting what was once precious to him.**

 **This is my first fanfic and I am trying out a crossover as I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all Bleach/Naruto crossovers. If you see anything I can improve upon, please leave a review.**

 **Disclaimer – I sadly don't own Naruto or Bleach. I mean if I did I would certainly not let Naruto and Ichigo get beaten up so badly by pretty much every good and bad guy before finally overcoming them after about 10 episodes… anyway rant over, on with the story.**

 **Prologue - Death isn't the end:**

 _A brief flicker of agonising pain followed quickly by suffocating darkness, met yet another human._

A huge crater, the size of a small city or large village, was still slightly smoking from the dust residue, leaving anyone still alive in the general area to know that it had only been done little over an hour ago.

In the epicentre of the giant crater were 2 figures still encased in shadow by the remaining dust and debris. However, the smaller of the two figures roared loudly in anger letting go a massive burst of wind to blow away all the dust and dirt that lay heavy in the air.

The two figures came into sight and at first glance looked fairly similar but as you got closer you could see the differences as clear as day.

Both of the figures looked to be in their mid-teens but one stood at 5 foot 8 while the other was at 5 foot 5. The taller one looked like a ghost – as white as paper but with an unnerving stoic attitude and really creepy purple eyes with 4 rings in each of them.

To make him look even more disturbing… he had many piercings going through various body parts however, the second figure had worked out the piercings were far more important than ever stated.

The man, known only as Pein-sama/Leader of Akatsuki, looked slightly tired and banged up if one was to look at the slight muscle tremors that went up and down his arms every now and then. Although, the smaller of 2, the one that had bright blonde hair and an orange and black get-up, looked furious and injured if the blood dripping down his chin and the blood that was spreading from his abdomen staining his clothes a dark crimson colour.

Pein looked over at the kid that was his opponent and said emotionlessly. "…It is over, your village is nothing but a crater, and you are critically injured Naruto Uzumaki, your friends are all dea-"

"Shut the hell up you bastard!" The now known Naruto Uzumaki shouted fiercely interrupting Pein. He looked at the one responsible for all this, everyone he knew about was dead, he couldn't feel them even in his very sensitive state of Sage-mode.

His guilt and regret was building heavily on his soul weighing him down with such emotional pain that he did not even feel the presence of Pein in front of him before it was too late.

 _Schlikt_

The metal rod struck deeply in Naruto's chest.

"Araaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!"

"In the end Uzumaki you were just another casualty of this world's ignorance. When I gain all the bijuu I will create the ultimate weapon where I will force peace to everyone – anyone that rebels will be destroyed that is the will of God."

"D-Damn you bastard… _cough cough…_ you are no God… and peace is nothing like what you are aiming for… _cough._ " Yelled Naruto coughing up blood the whole time… he could feel himself getting weaker, his chakra was being suppressed very quickly, he didn't have long left.

"Enough of this talk, the wound you have is critical but Kyuubi is healing it slowly – in fact I can feel it already healing around my weapon. You will soon be unconscious and then we will retract the Kyuubi from you and will finally have the end of this war-loving world."

Naruto just sneered with absolute hatred in his eyes "You know… you talk too much…" Naruto then suddenly grabbed Pein's arm and also the rod in him and focussed a large amount of his remaining chakra on moving to the fake tree that the real Pein was hiding in.

Konan and Nagato looked in surprise at Naruto and the Deva Path as they shunshined to their location.

Naruto let a dark chuckle echo around the hollow paper tree,

"…well this is what you look like in real life huh… some God…"

Just then Naruto started glowing a dark red and started unleashing huge amounts of chakra and killing intent around the area.

So much so that even Nagato and Konan started to get a bit worried although the only way you could tell though was the slight beads of sweat that was falling from their faces.

"What do you think you are doing… just give up; you have lost Kyuubi-brat." Said Nagato; with a slight edge of taunting in his voice.

"There is no way… NO WAY THAT I WILL GIVE UP! I WILL DESTROY YOU EVEN IF I HAVE TO DIE AS WELL." Shouted Naruto; with power and fury radiating off him in waves.

' _Goodbye my friends… I'm sorry I was too weak to save you guys… Kakashi-sensei, Hinata-chan, Sakura-chan and everyone else, even you Sasuke wherever you are.'_

With those final thought echoing in his head Naruto closed his eyes and sent the last of his chakra to a seal on his chest, right over the scar that was in the middle of his chest.

The seal glowed bright red lighting the entire area in an eerie red glow.

Nagato seeing this turned to his deva path and Konan and yelled uncharacteristically. "Konan, Deva don't let him finish that seal it's an extremely powerful explosive seal it's-"

However, he never got to finish as Naruto spoke one word.

"Boom!"

"Shinra Ten…"

"NOOOOOOOO!"

The entire area in a 5 mile radius was vaporised and everything within there was toast.

 _A brief flicker of agonising pain followed quickly by suffocating darkness met yet another human._

Naruto suddenly opened his eyes and saw that he was floating around and had some random chain attached to his chest of all things.

Naturally, not liking being restricted like this, Naruto started to pull on the chain but stopped quickly when he felt a huge amount of pain hit him as he did.

' _Great I'll have to live with it then'_

Suddenly Naruto was pulled to his mindscape and met the one ultimately responsible for the Akatsuki destroying his home and killing his friends.

" **I see you sacrificed your life to kill those 2 imbeciles, I guess this is it then you are dead and the seal looks like it is remaining strong so I am stuck with you even in death."** The ancient fox looked angry and looked straight at the blond with an annoyed look upon his beastial face until he saw the pure look of defeat upon the blondes face. He sighed, why he always had to deal with such emotional and annoying humans you would think that some God was having fun up there.

When eventually Naruto did make eye-contact with the great fox the fox once again sighed seeing the tears falling down his face. ' _Most likely from the other meat-bags that were killed earlier..."_ concluded the giant fox.

Kyuubi, surprised himelf probably more than Naruto, attempted to lighten the mood of a rather powerless situation by jokingly saying:

" **Well kit seeing as we're both dead and have nothing to do, you got any 3's...?"**


	2. Chapter 1-The Jinchuriki Hollowification

**The Espada Jinchuriki:**

 **This Chapter will be a lot longer than the prologue as it is my official chapter 1. I hope you enjoy it.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach so I'm stuck doing a fanfic instead.**

 **Chapter 1 – The Jinchuriki Hollowification:**

It had been 6 months since the Leaf village's destruction and the death of Naruto Uzumaki. Even though Naruto was lonely, he hadn't said a word to the Kyuubi or anyone else for that matter, for the past 6 months.

Truth be told, Kyuubi knew full well that Naruto blamed him for the deaths of his beloved village and friends and in return Naruto had become a shadow of who he was.

Kyuubi had on multiple occasions attempted to talk to Naruto but in all those attempts for the past 6 months Naruto hadn't said a word.

And it worried the ancient fox to no end. Don't get him wrong, Kyuubi still longed for freedom and would happily destroy all those that attempted to control or 'tame' him or other such nonsense. However, he couldn't help but feel for the once bright, energetic and loving boy now turned cold, hateful and _hollow._

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Pain, both emotionally and physically was slowly consuming him; already twisting his already tortured soul by constantly reminding him that his friends were all dead… all because of his weakness.

He had not said a word to the bastard fox in all this time as he had nothing to say to him. He was all alone and stuck in the dark, underneath the very crater that used to hold all his happy memories.

He hadn't kept track of the time so he had no idea how long he had been enclosed in chains tied to the ground. He had long since given up trying to escape the chains as they were nearly as painfully to pull on as his chest chain ( **Soul-chain if you are puzzled** ) was.

As his guilt and pain had risen his chain, that was attached to his chest, had slowly eroded away slowly opening some random hole in his chest. But he couldn't bring himself to care that much over it apart from the pain that it brought him – he would scream continuously for 5-10 minutes every time it would.

There was not much of the chain left and the hole in the middle of his chest was getting larger and larger as time went on. But if one thing Naruto didn't lose in his attitude reversal was his stubbornness and so he refused to care about what the chain would do when it reached its limit.

He had not been able to see the surface for a long time. He just remembered running away from what looked like samurai fighters with their black get-ups and swords. Naruto didn't know if they could see him or not but he didn't want to find out. So he had run away from them wanting to be alone to mourn his fallen village and friends.

So after running around, carefully dodging in and out of shadows of trees or left over debris from the village, he had this small hole that lead underground not far from the crater and eventually lead him to staying there in the lonely darkness.

His mind and eyes wandering over to the few links of chain that was still attached to his chest; he yet again wondered what would happen to him when they all encroached to the end.

" **You don't want that Naruto… you must fight it, where is that annoying brat that use to never give up."** Came the voice of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, however, if you listened intently you could pick up the slight edge of worry and desperation in it. Though whether that was for the well-being of him or Naruto was anyone's guess.

"…" Naruto as usual said nothing in response to his inner demon and just sat there waiting for the encroachment to happen – he had a feeling this was going to be the last one.

" **Naruto…"** yelled the nervous fox, " **You must fight it what about your friends' boy, your nindo, your determination don't they matter to you anymore. If that chain encroaches fully you will become a monster that you have tried to deny your whole life? Do you want that Naruto Uzumaki?"**

The unresponsive blond teen just looked at the chain in defeat. He could feel the final encroachment approaching soon. Very soon.

' _10…9…8…'_ came the defeated inner voice of the once happy-go-lucky teen.

' _7…6...'_

" **DO NOT IGNORE ME BOY! ANSWER ME UZUMAKI IS THIS HOW YOU WANT TO GO DOWN WHERE IS YOUR HONOUR AND PRIDE?"**

' _5…4…'_

"He grew up Kyuubi and wants to be free of this damn world. I have removed that fake mask that I wore all the time. I want to make those that get in my way of power just a stain on floor. I can't do that in this form…" Came the dark eerie voice of one Naruto Uzumaki; his voice dry and raspy, having not used it in such a long time.

" **Don't do i-"**

' _1…'_

Then pain like Naruto had never experienced before drowned out the voice of the fox and his own screams. He had just enough time to see a big hole in his chest fully open and then all he saw was white.

He was in too much pain to even think coherently all he could do was let the white substance that had started pouring out or his eyes, nose and mouth start to take over.

It reeked of power, hatred and despair. Naruto welcomed it with open arms.

Then darkness consumed him.

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In his cage, Kyuubi was also feeling pain beyond anything he had ever felt in his thousands of years of life.

He could feel his virtually limitless supply of chakra breaking down and becoming something else it was somewhat similar to chakra but had a slightly denser feel to it like it was the building blocks of something or maybe everything Kyuubi didn't know.

Going back to his millenniums worth of knowledge on chakra he realised that as chakra was half spiritual, half physical this power must be 100 percent spiritual. Kyuubi was not sure what to think of it.

He then felt a darkness spreading throughout the mindscape and in his mind – he couldn't speak as he was too busy groaning and grunting in agony. All he could do was watch as this darkness spread throughout the cage until it reached Kyuubi and with some rather dark profanities Kyuubi also let the darkness take him to unconsciousness.

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When Naruto came to, he found that he was lying on what looked like sand.

' _Strange, I don't remember going to Suna?'_ Thought Naruto irritably, not that the sand really bothered him at all, it was just annoying when you can't remember what you did or have done.

' _No this isn't Suna it's something else I can feel it. The energy here is totally different to the elemental nations? So where the hell am I?'_

As Naruto went to pick up some sand with his hand he realised that his hand wasn't what he remembered it to be. He looked down at his hands and body and swore loudly in shock.

The reason for this was and is quite simple.

Where Naruto's hands use to be; were now more animalistic than anything else with 5 really sharp, strong, red claws that gave him a rather menacing look about him. However, it was his body that really sent him into shock.

In the middle of his chest was the ever present hole that almost made him want to yell with hunger ever since he woke up.

He didn't know what it was about it but he just knew that he was hungry and needed something to eat.

He still had a rather slim body with an athletic look to it, he did not have any shirt leaving his torso and abdomen open to darkness, but he did have some sort of red fur that coated everything from his hips down to his feet that were also clawed as well. The red fur also looked rather fierce in the sense that it looked like blood had steadily coated it until it was a dark crimson.

Naruto knew his body was strong, in fact he felt his power and was pleasantly surprised to find that it didn't feel like chakra. However, he had never felt more powerful – he had nearly twice the amount of this energy as chakra and it made him feel strong to his very soul. Chakra had never done that much for him before.

It didn't hurt that his body looked badass as well.

No what caused him real shock was the fact that he had 2 tails producing out of his tail bone. Two big, red powerful appendages that swirled around lazily but also looked to be ready to go offensive or defensive in an instant.

Naruto chuckled darkly in the open darkness of this sandy world.

Just then Naruto detected movement in his peripheral vision and in seconds 4 very large creatures with some strange masks and body compositions came and surrounded to the just now standing Naruto.

They stood there for a second but finally one of them, the ugliest one and clearly the leader in this case Naruto noted, took a step forwards towards him.

"My, my, what do we have here boys… a fresh little hollow that has some rather tasty reiatsu from the smell of you? In fact you have as much spiritual pressure as we Gillain-class do. You're a rather interesting hollow but we're hungry so nothing personal." The massive Gillain-classed hollow trailed off his voice grating and squeaky sounding like nails on a chalkboard.

Naruto looked unimpressed. He had faced a 'God' he wasn't going to back out against these four losers.

"Oh Reiatsu, that is my new power is it. As for what you guys are meant to be I have no idea. You look like something Shukaku ate and spat out!" Naruto replied with a slight hint of cockiness and casualness to it.

It did its job and got all 4 behemoths annoyed and on edge.

"That's a rather sharp tongue you have there for a simple hollow, you Greenhorn!"

"Let's hurry up and kill him already guys I'm hungry?"

"Yeah, I am going to enjoy eating you trash."

Naruto just smirked and said loudly and in a taunting fashion. "Wait what...? You like eating trash?"

The others recoiled slightly at the still very calm looking hollow in front of them, showing no fear or hesitation at all. The hollow that just said that glared darkly and was about to reply when the leader gave a sharp look to him silencing anything he was about to say to the witty new hollow.

Instead the leader just said "Okay enough of the pleasantries I hope you have had a nice life of 3 minutes greenhorn, you can now spend eternity in our growing spiritual pressure…"

Naruto just looked up and grinned darkly. He was hungry, very hungry and he certainly was not going to be on the menu.

With speeds that the others didn't expect he had already disappeared and appeared in front of the group leader and before the giant could say anything else, Naruto had ripped out his throat… with his teeth.

The others just looked on in shock as they watched their leader go down in a single move.

Green blood squirted out of the wound as the nameless leader fell to the fall rasping in agony. The sand was painted green where he lay still after less than 30 seconds.

Within that time Naruto had just continued to eat the throat of the ex-hollow – while doing so he slowly turned to the others who looked at him in fear as Naruto just said darkly " **Nothing personal… but I'm hungry**!" he then charged at the shocked hollows with no mercy, just raw survival instinct.

10 minutes later and Naruto had all but consumed all four of the hollows that were, unfortunately, in his way.

Naruto looked down to one of the larger green puddles of hollow blood that coated the local area and saw his face for the first time since arriving in this plane of existence.

Well it wasn't exactly a face that looked up at him but a mask that covered his face in a sort of wolf or fox skull mask. Although, he did have long flowing red hair that hung down to his waist (think of Tensa Zangetsu, when he takes over Ichigo in the finla fight against Ulquiorra in the Anime, only a dark crimson red). But what truly made his appearance look demonic were the blood red eyes of a predator. Those eyes were of a killer, a survivor, a hungry predator on the prowl for his next meal.

Overall, Naruto cleaned up himself and stood at his full height of 6 foot and chuckled darkly, once again, at the feeling of his power growing from his meal. He was pleased to see that his spiritual pressure had already nearly increased by 20 percent since he first woke up. It meant that all he had to do was to keep eating his next meal.

If he could do that, then his power will keep rising exponentially until he could do whatever he wants. He was no longer bond to contracts of friendship or promises he could just focus on getting stronger.

Naruto decided then and there that he was going to leave his old life behind; he would use that hatred and guilt to push him forward but other than that he was done with friends. It was just too painful in the end. Whether they died on you or betray you… there was always an ending to a friendship…

Naruto looked down once more to the puddle and felt his mask with his clawed hands and smirked at the irony.

' _I got rid of my emotional mask only to have gained another type of mask.'_

With that thought in mind, Naruto walked away from the area looking for the next meal for him to sink his fangs and teeth into.

To gain power he had to be willing to go to any lengths to get it – if you want to stand at the top then you have to be willing to step on some toes.


	3. Chapter 2 -The Lucky and the Hollow

**The Espada Jinchuriki:**

 **I am pleased to see so many people have looked over the story already – with over 300 hits on my first day – I am deeply honoured and hope you are enjoying reading it.**

 **Once again please let me know if there are any improvements I can do to make my writing a better quality for you to enjoy and read.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Bleach. However, if my plan works then I will… nah even then I'm screwed I'll most likely never have anything to do with the Naruto or Bleach series.**

 **Anyway, I digress, on with the story. Sorry a little bit of a filler chapter but it is important to the overall story as it shows the perceptions of the other characters that will play a large part in the story. Many thanks to my Beta for test reading my story.**

 **Last thing – I have had a few comments about the lack of action… don't worry I will start with the fighting maybe in this chapter but certainly in the next one.**

 **Chapter 2 – The Lucky and the Hollow:**

Going back to the time when Naruto was still a pure soul or 'Whole' soul. We find that Naruto is currently one week into his self-appointed emo awareness year and is chained to the underground of what is left of the village hidden in the leaves.

However, there was not ever a mention of the other thousands of lives that were lost that day or even around that time for that matter. The massive influx of souls in the area attracted hundreds of Soul Reapers / Shinigami, or as they were called back then, Balancers or Equalizers, to see what was going on.

They had to act quickly before the Hollows caught wind of the spiritual power of the area and started to move across to this dimension as well…

As it happens because of Naruto's reclusiveness he never was made aware of the fact that he wasn't alone. He recklessly thought that he was the only one cursed to stay there for all eternity as punishment for his failure.

Around a hundred meters away from the crater; sat, stood or lay some familiar faces. They were all the souls of the remaining Rookie 12 (excluding of course Naruto and Sasuke), Kakashi-sensei, Tsunade the Godaime, Gai, Kurenai, Asama and finally Shizune the apprentice of Tsunade.

They all looked very similar apart from none of them had their hitai-ate anymore which lead to some rather interesting developments – especially when they found out that Kakashi no longer had the sharingan in his left eye just a regular working eye and Neij and Hinata both could no longer use their Kekkei Genkai – leading them to believe that all blood–related abilities were removed as they know did not have their bodies anymore. That was the only explanation even the genius Nara could come up with.

They all looked fairly exhausted, if the heavy panting and the beads of sweat was anything to go by.

"Oh man, what a drag, I thought being dead and all would mean some peace and quiet. Can't I just wait here and watch the clouds, maybe he'll wander over here without you guys realising?" Drawled a certain lazy Nara; as he lay on the ground and caught his breath.

"Shikamaru…" A high-pitched voice of one Sakura Haruno echoed around the area with a deep edge of anger and frustration added on to it. As she continued she casually walked over to the lying down soul of Shikamaru Nara and clipped him around the side of the head before heading back.

"Troublesome." Came the only reply from the genius ex-shinobi.

"…How many times do I have to tell you that we will not stop until we finally find that baka of a teammate and bring him into this group? He is our friend Shika and he's probably all alone and angry and… and…" However, whatever was to come next wasn't made clear as Sakura choked on her tears that were running down her face.

She couldn't deny that she missed him greatly. That idiot, Sakura had already promised a severe beating to the blonde for making them search for close to 5 days straight, having found each other rather quickly.

Tsunade, taking pity on the poor girl reached out and gently hugged her letting a few tears loose herself.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan, we'll find Naruto I promise."

"But… but what happens if we don't… I-I can't imagine going to the next life without the whole team here."

Before any of the Konoha gang could reply they were interrupted by a soft voice of a woman that came from behind them.

"Hello there. I see there must have been a massively powerful attack or an epidemic of some sorts to cause so many souls in need of the Konso."

Instantly all the gang were on their feet and in various defensive and offensive position; ready to attack the unknown entity at a moment's notice.

"Who and what are you?" Asked the cautious Kakashi eyeing the swords with an obviously rather suspicous manner. "I was not aware that anyone apart from the other souls could see us. And to answer your question it was a very powerful attack that flattened the village in less than a minute… we were just unfortunate that the village found its way on top of all of us." Kakashi finished looking at the two new-comers casually as though he was talking about the weather. He had been a ninja for too long.

"Oh I do apologise young ones-" At this all the rookie 10 and the older senseis felt their eyebrows twitch at the comment but let her finish, "-I did not introduce myself did I? I am the Fourth Division Captain Retsu Unohana a Soul Reaper as well Eighth Division Captain Shunsui Kyoraku who is also a Soul Reaper. We were sent down to help you all pass on to the Soul Society."

"The…Soul Society? What is that?" asked a puzzled Asama Sarutobi. A puzzlement that was shared with the others.

"I will answer this one Captain Unohana! The Soul Society is the place where you souls can reach with guidance of a Shinigami. It is essentially the afterlife for you; where you can find peace and happiness." Spoke the Captain of the 8th Division, Shunsui Kyoraku dressed in his ever present flower petal jacket. He had just walked by after doing several dozen Konsos and naturally was looking to skive off duties for a while. It was just the way he was…

"My fellow Captain is right, however, you won't get too far if you start getting lazy and skivving over their duties… isn't that right Captain Kyoraku?" Captain Unohana said sweetly with an innocent smile adorning her face, but what got everyone's attention was, the now named, Kyoraku's ever so slight stiffening at the tone in her voice. He quickly replies… too quickly to make it sound casual.

"…Oh… well you see… I had just done the first sector and was looking for anymore souls in the general area…you know me never one to stop with my duties and responsibilities… hahaha…" Shunsui trailed off in nervous laughter, not being able to make eye contact with the 'peaceful' looking 4th division captain.

' _His excuses have potential… I like this guy…'_ Kakashi thought watching the interaction between the two comrades and fellow Captains.

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As the casual conversation was going on between the two captains, Sakura was frantically trying to find a way out of this so called Konso.

She could not leave yet… not until she had found her baka teammate and one of the only true friends she had. So much so that she had come to rely on him the past couple of years.

Believe or not Sakura had given up on Sasuke; however, this was more due to the fact that Sasuke was still alive somewhere whereas they were all dead. She knew Naruto was dead – it pained her to admit it but she had already felt it… like a sixth sense of some kind.

Maybe it was an ability of hers.

"… _Oh… well you see… I had just done the first sector and was looking for anymore souls in the general area…_ _you know me never one to stop with my duties and responsibilities… hahaha…_ " spoke the Captain Kyoraku.

"NO WAIT…" Sakura interrupted suddenly out of nowhere, making all those around them look up at her in surprise and confusion.

Sakura, blushing in embarrassment at the added attention, realising she had interrupted 2 very strong looking people… plus they both had swords on them, and the swords seemed to be in easy reach for them at any point if they wanted. not good if you and your friends were all unarmed.

"…I'm sorry for my interruption but we are still waiting to meet up with one of our final friend. I cannot leave until I have found him!"

The others were taking aback by the fierce commitment and determination in here voice and eyes. It spoke volumes on how much she actually still cares for the knucklehead.

Both captain classed Shinigami shared a quick glance while thinking the same thing:

' _This girl… will make an excellent Soul Reaper.'_

Unohana taking note of the pink-haired girl smiled gently at her and calmly said "Well you see…" She trailed off indicating for Sakura to tell her, her name, which she did,

"…Sakura-san he is quite possibly already passed on to the soul society if that is what you're worried about. I assure you that not one of us will leave their posts- (she sent a half glance, half-glare at her fellow Captain; making him immediately sweat slightly and look away whistling innocently) –until all the souls in this area have been accounted for and guided to the Soul Society."

She said this with such authority and conviction that most of the rookie 10 and their senseis started to take a liking to the idea and was half way to agreeing to go without any fuss when a voice spoke from behind the rest of the gang that had moved to accept the Konso.

"Well, why exactly should we trust you then? How do we know you're not trying to trick us into falling for a trap?"

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Tsunade Senju did not like where this conversation was going between the two captains and Sakura, she had never heard of a Shinigami apart from the rather unpleasant one that helped seal the Kyuubi in Naruto and Orochimaru's arms within his own stomach. Therefore, Tsunade wasn't exactly that willing to commit such trust to these 2 strangers. She was the Godaime for Kami Sake.

" _Well, why exactly should we trust you then? How do we know you're not trying to trick us into falling for a trap?"_ came the sharp voice of a suspicious Godaime. Her patience was wearing thin and her famous temper was starting to get the better of her.

Captain Kyoraku and Unohana looked at her and the others before sighing deeply.

"Well... the reason you should trust us is that if we wanted to kill you, you would be dead a thousand times over in the last couple minutes of this pleasant chat…" drawled Shunsui, his voice never wavering in conviction that he was stating absolute fact. To make his point he released a fraction of his spiritual pressure, he had grown tired of continually saying the same thing to every perceptive and suspicious dead ninja.

There were a lot of them. So much so that the usually laid back Shinigami Captain had virtually given up explaining to most and just doing the Konso as quickly as possible to avoid any more troublesome conversations.

All the shinobi and kunoichi tensed when they felt a sense of dread wash over them – it felt like killer intent but different in several ways…

' _How strange I would say that it is chakra related but we don't have any and I suspect neither do they… it has no malicious aura to it… troublesome?'_ Shikamaru was currently running through dozens of options through his head while sweating from the Spiritual Pressure.

' _What is this? It feels like my very soul is being crushed by an unseen force.'_ Ino thoughts made their way to the central line of thinking in the young ex-kunoichi while she was trembling slightly at the power of the unknown force.

' _How amazing this is no 'KI,' in fact it feels like raw power and I can tell he is holding back massively – these guys are no joke…"_ Kakashi, the genius prodigy of a generation thought unknowingly getting it spot on.

The thoughts of all the others were interrupted once again by Tsunade who was trying hard not to show any intimidation from the power of the simple technique.

"You don't scare me! In fact how about a bet, you win, I, Tsunade Senju, and the rest of us go quietly. I win then you have to help us find Naruto and show us all how to do that technique." All the ex-ninja just dead-panned – ' _she has spent way too much time with Naruto!'_ were the main thoughts going through the heads of the gang.

Kyoraku, slightly surprised, scratched his head in thought… in truth he already knew his answer, anything to hurry this process up.

"Okay I accept, what is the bet then?" said the ever calm 8th division captain.

Tsunade smirked at this but shook her head at the male captain. "The bet is a one-on-one fight, no weapons, but I choose to face her instead…" Tsunade finished smugly pointing at the peaceful female captain.

However, this time it was Kyoraku that shook his head while thinking that Tsunade must be insane to willing pick Retsu Unohana as an opponent. "No Tsunade-san, you will face me if you were to face my fellow captain here… well things would get messy…" Kyoraku smile for the first time turned into a grimace as though he was reminiscing about another time.

In this time Captain Unohana had done little but just smile innocently. Though the more experienced shinobi could see it was just too innocent; they couldn't help but cringe slightly at the look.

Tsunade only nodded in acceptance – she cared little for who she fought she just had to buy some more time to hopefully find her ' _grandson'_ in but blood. Then she would be happy to at least trust these Soul Reapers with what they were saying. Anyway, there was no way she would lose to this guy… he had even worse fashion sense than the Naruto himself!

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As the two got ready to face off, Shizune was still desperately trying to make Tsunade reconsider.

"Tsunade-sama, you must rethink about this. I have been with you for close to two decades and I have never seen you win in a fight which includes a bet."

However, Tsunade just smiled and looked into the worried face of one of her most precious people she had left. She replied "Look Shizune-chan, I am not doing the bet out of my addiction; I need to buy more time to find Naruto. Anyway, I am still a Sannin; I will not lose to some guy with Gai's dressing code."

This got a snicker out of almost everyone in the gang. Gai just sat there and yelled about the unyouthfulness of the comment…

Kakashi, for what felt like the tenth time that day, deadpanned ' _He didn't deny her words though?'_

"So Tsunade-san, you ready to fight? As per the rules of the bet, there are no weapons to be used and no one else is to interfere or the combatant is immediately disqualified. Are you both ready?" said the smooth, soft voice of the fourth division captain.

Tsunade and Shunsui both nodded and immediately Tsunade charged looking to take him out with on punch from the surprise.

Shunsui just stood there and let her get closer and closer, the paced she was moving was actually quite impressive she was moving at speeds reaching around the fourth-fifth seat generally were the seated officers were.

However, the pace was nothing but a snail's pace compared to Kyoraku's and he decided to play a little bit to test her out.

He hadn't faced 'Old Man Yama' or his friend Jushiro Ukitake in a long way so he was worried he was going to become rusty otherwise as his laziness was certainly getting in the way of any training.

Just as the punch was about to make contact with Kyoraku's face, he disappeared in thin air causing Tsunade to follow through with her punch and as a result nearly lost her balance. Even so there was a slight shockwave from the punch that caused a breeze to pass out from the power that was released with the punch.

"Damn… I missed! Where are you Soul Reaper? Come out and fight like a warrior." Said a frustrated Tsunade as her voice got louder and louder towards the end.

Meanwhile, Kyoraku was casually just sitting in a tree not too far away from Tsunade and the others.

' _Incredible; to be already able to incorporate reiatsu into her attacks without any training…'_ thought a shocked Kyoraku. '… _even so the attack would of done little harm to someone like me but the potential of these ninjas are very high; Old Man Yama was right to send us here to 'recruit' them.'_

"Oh if that is what you want, then so be it!" Kyoraku's voice echoed around the area until a blur like movement came out of one of the trees and a split second later Tsunade found herself lying on the ground.

No-one of the ex-Konoha ninjas, saw the attack…

"Tsunade-sama/Hokage-sama!"

"It was so fast I couldn't even follow it with my eyes…" Hinata said in awe and Kiba and Neji quickly nodded.

"He is so strong! I can feel he is still holding back a lot and he has only done one move." spoke the calm, calculative voice of Shino.

Tsunade, despite her shock, rose to her feet and saw the Captain standing only 5-10 meters away looking bored.

"That was an interesting attack, to add reiatsu like that to your attacks to enhance them is pretty clever but it was wasted on such a straight forward move like that one." Kyoraku lectured, enjoying the slight glare that was directed at him by Tsunade.

"However," he continues "…we have to hurry this up before the hollows start making their way down here. Usually I would give you a chance to leave now that you have seen you are outclasses but I am running out of time!"

' _Hollows?'_

Before Tsunade had any chance to ask the question, she found Shunsui in front of her in a blink of an eye and with the butt of his sword against her forehead. She didn't even have time to shout indignantly before she was started glowing and then a sense of pure relief seemed to fill her being. Like she was finally going towards where she belonged.

In a few seconds the light was gone and Tsunade faded away and where she was, was a black butterfly that rose high in the sky. Not 2 Minutes later the Konso was complete with the others as well; all of them only having time to say that he cheated but overall complied with his and Unohana's request of passing on. Not that they had much choice in the matter. They were extremely strong from what the ex-shinobi could work out leaving many of them to want to become like them in the future.

Who knew that this lucky encounter would mean some rather interesting developments in the future?

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1 month later and the huge mass of souls had all passed on to the Soul Society. Captains Unohana and Kyoraku were doing the last checks over the landscape to double check but were positive that no more wandering souls were around.

They went back to the Soul Society to report the news to their Captain-Commander Yamamoto.

If only they knew that less than 100 meters away was the soul of one Naruto Uzumaki who left in the dark… for too long.

 **5 human months' later, Soul Society division 12:**

"Are you sure these readings are right?" Yamamoto was not having a good day he was already developing a headache because of some new recruits, at the academy, wanting to finish early… in other words a lot more paperwork...

"I'm positive Captain-Commander, these readings are huge, the reiatsu in the air around the area is definitely Gillain-class or higher… what should we do sir?"

The commander sighed before letting his nearly 2 millenniums worth of battle experience take over:

"Very well then, send Captains Jushiro, Kyoraku and Unohana immediately down to the area to investigate it considering it was those three that assured me the place was clean." He said it with such authority that the messenger and the other Shinigami in the facility just nodded.

"I just hope we are not too late…" Yamamoto finished looking up at the bright blue sky and sun but feeling no warmth to it… only a sense of dread.

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The three captains would later report in to their superior reporting that the left over reiatsu was still there but whatever had left it was long gone. In fact, the captains said that it looked like some spiritual pressure left over was by opening a Garganta to Hueco Mundo. Leaving them to assume it was a Menos Grande that had felt the amount of spiritual beings in the area and had come to feed, only to fine none and therefore go back to Hueco Mundo.

Yamamoto was positive of this and in reply sent a few more patrols of Shinigami around the local area and villagers. Even though he would never have a report of a hollow attack in the elemental nations he kept the patrols up for many years before ultimately recalling all of them to help guard the Seireitei from some random Bounts that had gotten lose from their experimentation lab and was causing a fuss.

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 **And done! Wow my largest chapter yet 3,800 words. Sorry about the lack of action I'm still trying to get some better ideas of how to do fighting scenes to make them more engaging.**

 **However, got some fights lined up for next chapter. Chapter 3 will consist of Naruto increasing his strength and the Konoha gang in the academy together.**

 **Just wanted to say thanks to DatMatt, Xanderdakka and RikudoNaruto1 for the reviews.**

 **And Lucian Naruto for some really good ideas that I will look into in the future of the plot.**


	4. Chapter 3 -Naruto's Growth

**The Espada Jinchuriki:**

 **Wow! I am amazed at the amount of views already on my story – and certainly hope you are all enjoying it as much as I am writing it.**

 _ **PLEASE READ: As I intend for Naruto to be part of the Espada, I am unsure what ranking I should put him in, so please PM or REVIEW the number you think he should be. I will make a tally of the number and the highest number will be the one I will select.**_

 _ **Please note that no matter what ranking he has, Naruto will be powerful but obviously not too much or there would be no story for me to sink my teeth into…**_

 **From the time when I first started typing up chapter 3 (or 4 depending if you want to count the short prologue) I have:**

 **32 followers** **,** **21 favourites** **,** **9 reviews** **and** **1543 views** **. Thank you all very much. Again please message if you think I can improve the story in anyway or have found a few grammar mistakes. Amazing figures for just 4 days on the site!**

 **Disclaimer: If I controlled Bleach and/or Naruto I would have done a movie that connected the two for a one-off crossover. Plus I would be rich… hmmm money. I wouldn't be stuck using my crappy imagination... I would pay someone else to do it for me…**

 **Oh well, on with my story.**

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 **Chapter 3 – Naruto's Growth:**

 **6 Years after the Konsos of the Konoha Gang:**

While the ex-shinobi were all getting acquainted with the Soul Reaper academy, Naruto was a whole dimension away, fighting for his life in the endless sandy hell that was Hueco Mundo.

The past 6 years since Naruto killed and ate his first hollows, he had gained an insatiable hunger for his own kind. It had pretty much defined his life for the past months; he rarely thought of much else apart from his next meal. It certainly wasn't the taste… Oh Kami no… he just loved the feeling of power that he gained with every bite. In the last 6 years his power had nearly tripled.

He needed that power; if he wanted to sit on the top, he had to be the strongest. If that meant he would have to kill the weak, strong, old or young then he would do so. He was done with the mask of naiveté and foolishness that had once defined him.

He was a new ma… well _creature,_ would be the more accurate term in this case, for what he was now but you know, baby steps.

He did not look anything like what he used to; gone were the baby blue eyes, the messy but innocent sun-kissed blond hair and the whiskers that had adorned his face for his whole life. Well he did not know that for sure having not seen his face apart from his glowing red eyes reflecting only predatory hunger, hatred and the thousands of deaths they had experienced.

He was a killing machine now and he wouldn't stop until he was on top or at least as close as he could. He was always ready to kill anything that moved if it meant he could and would gain more power.

In the last 6 years, he had gained a vast amount of knowledge on what he was and where he was:

He was in the endless sands of Hueco Mundo. A place specifically for hollows of all sizes, shapes and power. From bantering with some of the other hollows as they passed by (you know, before Naruto brutally killed them and ate their corpses); Naruto had managed to understand that his power level was very high and that he was unique. He had somehow skipped the whole turning into a giant Gillian (Menos Grande – the weakest of the 3 kinds of Menos if you were confused or didn't remember) and managed to keep his individuality. However, Naruto had to always be on guard as his power threatened to consume him with the thousands of different souls that were warring in his body. If he wanted to keep his individuality he had to constantly fight down the inner power inside him. The only times that he wouldn't feel that feeling was when he was fighting or eating. Naruto didn't know why but assumed it was something to do with his powerful survival instincts.

Naruto suspected his individuality had something to do with the fox but hadn't been able to make contact with him for as long as he had been down in this dark sandpit. However, Naruto just put it down to Kyuubi being angry at him for giving up.

Well if giving up gave him this much power then he would have gladly done it when he was getting beaten as a child in the slums of Konoha.

It was funny to Naruto, how his whole 'first' life, he had been a happy-go-lucky blonde that smiled and tried his hardest in everything. Whether that is a simple clone jutsu or desperately trying to convince everyone that he was not the Kyuubi reincarnate. And yet, now he was a perfect description of a monster and he had never felt freer, more powerful and there was no one to tell him he was a failure, a loser, an idiot. It made him want to roar with the sense of relief that he had finally gotten.

Naruto Uzumaki was no longer a demon in sheep's clothing – he had torn away the mask to become what his potential had always led him to become.

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We currently find the 'new' Naruto prowling the sand for his next victim. If his count was correct; then this would be his one-thousandth kill and consumption.

Therefore, he went looking for a special meal, his first Adjuchas. He knew he was close to an Adjuchas' power level but also knew in terms of raw power, they most likely still had the advantage. However, he was incredible fast. In fact, he had still yet to meet anyone faster than himself. Most of his meals had been from very big and powerful hollows but sluggish in their movements and intelligence. He had over time realised that the bigger the Hollow, generally, the more powerful they were, or at least to eat. In a way it was more efficient to eat the bigger ones (in terms of Hollows and Gillains at least); they gave you the most Spiritual Pressure per meal. It made logical sense as far as Naruto was concerned so he generally kept to large Hollows and a consistent diet of Menos Grande (Gillains in this case).

Naruto knew that, for a Gillian, he was a rare breed – with his agile body and high intellect he could give most of the lower classed Menos a run for their money. Although, with the Gillains he had to watch out for those damn **'Cero'** attacks. They packed a punch – he had only been hit once with one (in fairness there was a group of 3 of them and he didn't see the third one firing until it was too late) and it had taken him a good couple of hours resting to properly heal, even with his extreme regeneration healing… after his big meal of 3 extra barbequed Gillains that is. He had cleverly made them hit each other with their own **Ceros** as punishment for hitting him. He was a real avenger now… the irony!

Naruto travelled for about an hour tracking some rather large footprints and left over reiatsu in the air and on the ground. In fact, the spiritual pressure alone was easily another level above what he was use to hunting before now; leading him to conclude that this was definitely going to be a good hunt.

He saw in the distance a hill of sand easily reaching about 100-150 meters and it seemed to have a huge chunk of it missing… like an entrance for a very large creature of some kind.

"One of the rare occasions where I can find an Adjuchas all alone ready for the taking; I can already feel the hunger setting into my very core…"

So Naruto, suppressing his massive Spiritual Pressure as much as he could, started to sneak closer and closer to the hollowed out (no pun intended) dwellings of a possible lonesome Adjuchas.

As Naruto started to get closer he felt the raw Spiritual Pressure this guy was releasing naturally and was impressed. It really was amazing. If he was just a regular hollow then his soul would quite possibly been crushed under the weight of the power.

He found it a little odd actually; considering how many Adjuchas like to travel in small groups. He had also found out that they did this because they could take down more prey at any one time. Plus all of them have one major thing in common and that was their greatest fear. That is the thought of regression; it was even greater than the idea of death - If you do not feed then you risk deteriorating back into a Gillain and being stuck like that forever. Unfortunately, that isn't even the worse of it – the worse is by far the fact that you lose your individuality that you (normally –exception being Naruto) gain as you evolve to Adjuchas level.

Naruto crept silently to the entrance and was about to enter when he heard a deep, dark voice that spoke of power and arrogance, Naruto immediately didn't like him; he also could not see the Adjuchas as he was somewhere in the deep shadows of the cave.

" **Well, well why don't you enter my humble abode little Hollow? How interesting… aren't you kind of small to be a Gillain?"**

"Size has no account of power for our species…" Naruto said dismissively. "…Anyway, why are you not deep in the Menos Forest?" Naruto asked in his 'pleasant' voice – he tried to be at least civil to his prey; well before he rips off their faces and eat them when they are still alive. All the way through the 'casual' conversation; he had his senses on max alert trying to locate his future meal.

" **The Menos Forest is great if you are in a group, but I got bored of my group and consume them when they least expected it. In truth, you are lucky little hollow that I 'm full. However, you couldn't even pass as a mouthful anyway…"** Naruto heard deep laughter and some heavy footprints.

The Adjuchas came into the light, and Naruto could honestly say that it was one of the ugliest creatures he had ever laid eyes on.

The Adjuchas-level Hollow had a huge black hollow hole exactly on the right side of his chest. The hole alone was probably close to half of Naruto's eight foot statue. The Hollow's face was flat and disproportionate to the rest of his very slim, long body. Overall, the monstrosity stood at around 40 foot in height with a sickly green colouring his skin; making it look mouldy and rotting. His hands were long and slightly sharpened at each edge – perfect for bisecting unaware prey.

However, the unspoken rule of Hueco Mundo was, and would be for many years to come, was that the only thing that mattered was power – looks, attitude, their past means nothing to those that were strong. Although, the more power you have, the greater the risk of stronger hollows coming after you to consume you for the power. But that was just the survival of the strongest.

"Well you know how it is Adjuchas; sometimes we Gillain get so hungry that they even look towards their ' _masters'_ for a meal or two." The rather sarcastic reply came from Naruto. The Adjuchas smirked at the small Gillain with arrogance and said:

" **Call me Kyofu (** Terror **), I have gained that name over decades of hunting and destroying any opponent I have come across boy. The reason I have shared me name to you is that you are about to be killed and should know the name of their executioner…"** The now known Kyofu smiled darkly while releasing his spiritual pressure steadily as the conversation carried on. "… **As for the rebellious Gillains, they all need to be taken down, best way to be able to tell are the ones that start eating other Gillains. HAHAHA let me tell you that those are the extra tastier ones. You look like you have been munching on some Gillains haven't you HAHAHA?"** His voice was harsh and raspy with a clear sense of bloodlust in every syllable. Even his laugh was grating and humourless.

"I see Kyofu, my name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I will be _**your**_ executioner today…" Naruto trailed off as a bloodthirsty smile grew, as well, on his face as he got in position to strike.

" **I see you are not going to back down little Uzumaki! So instead I will CRUSH YOU!"** bellowed Kyofu, releasing massive amounts of Spiritual Pressure at Naruto and then charged with his fist up and ready to strike.

The sheer power that emitted out of Kyofu was enough to temporarily paralyse Naruto in shock. As a result, a huge fist connected with Naruto's face and chest with enough force to send him flying back out the entrance of the cave and skimming over 100 meters of sand.

" **HAHAHA, it seems I still retain my memories of being a bouncer so long ago… so little Hollow boy, if you were catatonic with so little of my Spiritual Pressure; you are 100 years too early to challenge an Adjuchas like me."** said Kyofu mockingly, with a large grin adorning his large unsightly face. 

"…Uuuhhh… damn that… hurt." groaned a very bruised and swollen Naruto. He was in the crater of sand that was still smoking from Naruto's impact 10 seconds ago.

' _Dammit Naruto, what the hell was that? Naruto Uzumaki doesn't freeze in shock for anyone or anything… not anymore anyway. Oh this guy is going to be in fucking pieces when I'm finished with him.'_

As you might have worked out Naruto was really pissed – of course you couldn't see any expression because of the mask covering his face but the huge purple and blue bruise that was swelling up from his neck down to his upper torso was a bit of a giveaway. However, Naruto knew that within the hour it would have faded to his usual white skin, without so much as a mark on him. The same could not be said for the Adjuchas. His fate was sealed the moment he became Naruto's target… and lunch.

Naruto slowly got up and climbed out of the 2 meter crater before brushing himself off casually, like he hadn't just been 'Tsunade punched' over 100 meters in the first 2 seconds of the fight. He looked up at his opponent who had confidently strolled over at an easy pace letting off the smell of Reiatsu, arrogance and victory all the way. Naruto, smelling this, immediately got irritated at Kyofu – he had dealt with arrogant fools his whole human life – he didn't need this bastard to do it too.

" **Not talking huh; your no fun kid are ya? No matter, I'll make this quick just know out of all the hollows I have faced, I have never defeated one as quickly and easily as yourself… what a disappointm-"** Kyofu was interrupted in his trash talking when he felt a sense of dread fill him and before he could even react, he felt a slight pull on his left arm. Then only pain and blood followed that.

" **ARRRRAGHH… YOU BASTARD… I'LL KILL YOU!"** screamed a hysterical Kyofu clutching what was left of his left (again no pun intended, dammit!) arm. It was pretty much ripped and broken off at the elbow joint. Leaving only the useless bloody remains of the upper arm.

He sunk down to his feet in pain waiting for his regeneration powers, most hollows are blessed with, to kick in.

Now it was Naruto's turn to stand and stroll over to the temporarily downed Kyofu throwing away what was left of the arm – not before a quick bite (we all have our vices!).

"That was for the punch earlier, now get up, stop moaning and give me a good **FIGHT!** " said Naruto steadily getting louder and darker towards the end until his Spiritual Pressure absolutely exploded out of him. But that wasn't what worried the now one-armed Kyofu; it was the fact that the Reiatsu that was now being emitted out of Naruto was even stronger than it was not even 20 minutes ago when he first felt Naruto 'stalking' him.

Without warning Naruto charged at the semi-healed Kyofu, who just threw himself out of the way at the last second. The force behind the attack was impressive, leaving a half meter crater in the sand. Naruto, turning to face Kyofu, saw a foot heading straight for his chest and defended with his arms in an 'X' position. The only problem with that was the amount of power behind the attack causing Naruto to skid back 15 meters, it would have been more if not for Naruto's two tails digging deep into the sand helping him stay his ground against the strong foe.

"You know Kyofu… I have been underestimated my entire existence… not anymore. NOT ANYMORE!" yelled Naruto throwing a clawed hand at the large hollow.

" **Boy, now you are underestimating me!"** replied Kyofu, catching Naruto's hand and arm easily in his gigantic hand and holding it firmly. **"At first I was surprised at such speed for a Gillain; they are usually so sluggish. But you are not normal are you kid. As a result I think I will eat you as a reward for being able to tear off my left arm."** After saying this Kyofu grinned darkly, showing Naruto his rows and rows of rotten teeth and fangs in his mouth. Naruto then felt a huge amount of pressure on his caught fist and pain started building as he saw Kyofu's fist clenching around his own.

"Dammit… dammit to hell…" Naruto groaned in agony as he felt his very bones started to fracture under the huge amount of pressure.

" **Hahaha this is for my arm bastard… now scream for me, I love to feed when they are screami-"** Kyofu would have continued if he didn't have to catch the two tails that was sent at his face and neck. Unfortunately for Naruto, Kyofu was well aware of the 2 appendages and had made sure that there were no more surprises from the brat. He could not risk anymore injuries or he would be hunted by bigger and stronger hollows than just a boy, who was obviously not aware of the system in Hueco Mundo.

As a lone Hollow, you should always look to hunt those that are below your skill, power and, if possible, intelligence. They were the key rules of hunting for survival in Hueco Mundo and this little hollow had made his final mistake.

Naruto, in-between the moans and groans of the pain, managed to let out a half-hearted curse at the failed attack.

" **I see… you are quite devious for a greenhorned Gillain. You sent your two tails at me thinking it would catch me by surprise and force me to let go… but it didn't now did it? I have three limbs now that I can crush all at once hahaha."** the booming, confident voice of Kyofu, who at once started to apply pressure to the three limbs, said looking at the defeated red-headed hollow.

Naruto just raised his head until his fierce red eyes made contact with the deep grey eyes of Kyofu and said tiredly:

"I-I've said it before… don't… don't underestimate me KYOFU!" and with that a whooshing sound was heard out of nowhere.

Kyofu had no idea what happened, he was just enjoying his victory over this abnormal Gillain when he felt a strange sensation around his neck until darkness took him no even letting him say any final words.

However, that may have been the result of the tail sticking out of Kyofu's neck virtually decapitating him in the process. This was also one of the things Naruto had worked out in his time in Hueco Mundo; no matter who they were and how strong they were, a vulnerable place is always the neck and head.

As for the tail…

"Ha…Ha…Ha." Came the tired voice of Naruto, as he felt his 3 appendages slowly repairing themselves after Kyofu let go and fell backwards onto the ground. As for his victory well that was the result of a third tail that had sprouted when he had released the huge amount of Spiritual Pressure earlier in the fight – it was the moment when Kyofu was too busy tending to his ripped off left arm and moreover did not realise even when the tail buried itself deep into the ground. Naruto had overtime become aware of how his tails reacted with reiatsu – they could become nearly 3 times longer if he pumped his Spiritual Pressure into one. He did this when he buried the third tail underground so it could attack Kyofu in his blind spot.

He had won against a whole different class of Menos compared to him. In fact, he knew full well that he was underestimated severely, if the third tail had not come with his power rise then he would of died and the truth that Kyofu could have killed him towards the end easily but chose to torture him instead of destroying Naruto quickly… his own mistake.

' _Damn, I don't think I will be attacking too many more of those on my own in the future…'_

Naruto started to lug back the huge hollow to the cave so he could eat in peace. After reaching the caves entrance he dumped Kyofu's body harshly on the floor and began his meal.

When he had finished he sighed with contentment as he felt his power increase dramatically… increase too quickly. A massive wave of pain struck Naruto before he knew what was happening. He felt his body start to change – he felt his reiatsu significantly increase and then decrease and continue to fluctuate for the next couple of minutes. He then felt a fourth tail sprout and grow out of him making him turn to see the four big red tails swishing around.

' _Uhh, the pain is excruciating, but it is extra power so it is worth it. I can't believe my third and fourth tails have already grown I wonder if I turn into the damn Kyuubi if I grow 9 of them…?'_

The puzzled thoughts of one, Naruto Uzumaki, was swirling around his head similarly to how his four tails were doing over his head.

He felt a burning sensation run down his entire body causing him to scream in helplessness and pain of it. Even as he sunk to the floor he could feel his muscles becoming denser and bigger. It carried on for a few minutes until eventually all the pain abruptly stopped and Naruto got up quickly to see the changes that happened to him.

His hands were still clawed and sharp, he quickly felt his 'face' and realised he still had the fox/wolf mask on, causing him to curse… he really wanted to see if he was hot or not under the mask but no matter how hard he tried to pull it off it just wouldn't. It was like it was as big a part of him as his tails were. He then saw his body and realised why his pain was so much, all his muscles had grown and he felt they were all charged with his spiritual pressure ready to be released at any stage. He had kept his modest height of 8 feet knowing that he was probably smaller of most of his fellow Adjuchas.

Apart from his four tails and muscle growth the only thing that changed was his power level. Naruto was shocked to feel that his Spiritual Pressure had virtually tripled when he advanced to this state. He had no idea that this was the power you could gain by consuming an Adjuchas. He wasn't aware that there were certain factors that lead him to gaining such a major advance in his power.

Naruto, knowing the fluctuations of his reiatsu would attract every Hollow in the general area, set off quickly to avoid any more fights as he was still weak from the transformation and could only run at a third of his usual pace as a result.

He knew what the transformation was and it made him grin maniacally as he realised that he was now an Adjuchas.

He could no longer feel the thousands of souls, which made him up, fighting to take over his body. Yes, Naruto was very happy from this realisation. He could now focus fully on upgrading his power and not just his next meal.

After he had travelled far enough away from the cave… he found some old ruins of a building long ago, and rested a while, their letting the toll of the fight and transformation finally hit him. He was asleep before he even realised it.

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 **And DONE – and yet again my largest chapter – they keep getting longer and longer**

 **For all those confused why Naruto was upgraded to Adjuchas so quickly it is because of the power Kyuubi is continuingly giving (via the seal) to Naruto so his power is consistently increasing.**

 **Sorry about putting the same thing twice but just in case you missed it up at the top:**

 _ **PLEASE READ: As I intend for Naruto to be part of the Espada I am unsure what ranking I should put him in, so please PM or REVIEW the number you think he should be. I will make a tally of the number and the highest number will be the one I will select.**_

 _ **Please note that no matter what ranking he has, Naruto will be powerful but obviously not too much or there would be no story for me to sink my teeth into…**_

 **Thanks for reading the chapter I have the next one going soon. Thank you for all the reviews: Special thanks to Cf96, Zero Gawain, 1000 and Lucas Maia for the reviews.**


	5. Chapter 4 - The Years of Rukongai

**The Espada Jinchuriki:**

 **I'm so sorry about taking so long but in my defence I have been very busy with everything just piling up on me.**

 **I just have to say another** **massive thank you** **for all the views and reviews. Currently, at:**

 **5475 views, 39 Reviews, 121 Followers, 86 Favourites.**

 **For the rankings of Naruto being an Espada I so far have: Whoever ranking that is picked will just result in everyone move down one.**

 **10/0-(Yammy) - 3**

 **1-(Stark) – 4**

 **2-(Baraggan) - 4**

 **3-(Harribel) - 1**

 **4-(Ulquiorra) -**

 **5-(Nnoitra) – 2**

 **6-(Grimmjow) – 2**

 **7-(Zommari) -**

 **8-(** **Szayelaporro) -**

 **9-(Aaroniero) – 4**

 _ **PLEASE READ: As I intend for Naruto to be part of the Espada, I am unsure what ranking I should put him in, so please PM or REVIEW the number you think he should be. I will make a tally of the number and the highest number will be the one I will select. Please keep letting me know your opinion.**_

 _ **Please note that no matter what ranking he has, Naruto will be powerful but obviously not too much or there would be no story for me to sink my teeth into… ;)**_

 **Disclaimer: Dammit – I still don't own anything of Naruto or Bleach… Well actually I do own a shuriken that I throw at my dart board when I'm bored... Muahahah I have a wicked aim…** _ **Anyway,**_ **on the story…**

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 **Chapter 4 – The Years of Rukongai:**

After the Konso of the thousands of Konoha souls that were sent to the Soul Society; there was, obviously, a massive influx of souls in the Rukongai district. The thousands of souls were all distributed to the 320 districts (80 districts in the North, East, South and West).

While Naruto was in the adjacent dimension; destroying and devouring anything that got in his way, all the new souls in the soul society, were trying to get use to their new environment.

Our group of protagonists however, all ended up throughout the districts of North Rukongai. It took the following six years for them all to meet up throughout the districts.

Starting with Sakura and Ino, they found themselves in district 61 – a rather unpleasant area with a lot of gangs roaming the streets, even during the day time. There were no law enforcers (Shinigami) from district 41 all the way to 80. That was why death, rape and robberies were extremely common if you went to those districts. The far richer side of the Northern Rukongai was housed to the clans, whether they were big or small they had a place there.

Sakura and Ino were first located in a dark alleyway. After the brief talk with the Soul reapers before the Konso, they were both made aware that they must be in the Rukongai districts. Having left the alleyway as soon as they were on their feet they found that the conditions here weren't exactly what the captains had bragged about. They saw a sign, which was heavily damaged, with the 'North 61' just discernible from the dented, marked and rusted sign.

Before they had 'passed on,' Unohana had told them that the districts were split into the North, South, West and East and they each had 80 districts – the higher the number, the worst the area was to live in. Therefore, Sakura immediately realised they needed to move on and quickly. It only took one glance before she knew that the only place she was in had ever looked so poor and unkempt.

That was Wave Country.

The houses throughout the district looked like a bunch of slums that were just about standing up from their foundations… if they had any that is.

Sakura, along with Ino, went to two guys they saw when first exiting the alleyway – both men were around the mid-forties with dirty, old clothing and several scars littering the faces of the guys. Sakura only asked them because of the need to get going as soon as possible.

She asked them what way to the lower districts – the guys looked over the two young teenagers and both smiled lustfully, they unsurprising only told them they would tell them if they both gave them a treat first.

The ex-kunoichi obviously just stared in disgust at the two perverts – I guess they are everywhere in the universe. The guys in response decided that they didn't need permission and went to attack the girls. However, thanks to their prior ninja training they didn't need any chakra or reiatsu to deal with the perverted idiots. They were left bruised, broken and unconscious in the middle of the street. It spoke volumes of the type of place they were in; they had just beaten up 2 guys in the middle of the street, in broad daylight, and yet not one person even turned their way. It was clear to the 2 girls that it happened far too often. What worried Sakura and Ino the most was that there were still 19 even worst districts after this one? They could only hope that none of their friends had ended up there...

It took a couple of hours of various asking at local pubs and bars – all equally as rough and troublesome as the region would suggest – but the girls were lucky enough to see another 'new-ish' soul in a pub who was willing to help them. He pointed them into the right direction for the better districts that the soul society had to offer.

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Over the course of the following 6 years, they passed through dozens of districts in the Northern Rukongai looking desperately for their friends.

It took years but they finally managed to find all of them that were present at the Konso all those years ago.

Sakura and Ino found their friends scattered throughout the districts. It took years of searching; all the while they trained in hand-to-hand combat along with the others they steadily collected, but they eventually met up with all of them.

In the first 2 years of searching they found Lee and Gai in district 64… they had already created a dojo and somehow got a local gang to join up and sponsor it… Sakura was a little worried about why; but the Dynamic duo was so thrilled that they didn't care at all. By using the dojo as a base of operations, they could go out for a few days at a time to explore the other districts looking for the others. With the dojo in effect they could improve upon their hand-to-hand combat much quicker by facing different opponents.

Also, it didn't hurt to get a reputation in a place as corrupt and dark as district 64.

With the new routine in place they found Kakashi, Tenten, Kiba and Shino all throughout the districts of 57, 61 and 62. The group steadily grew at the dojo; and as the reputation of the dojo grew, their names were also spread throughout the Northern Rukongai districts.

Throughout the next 4 years they managed to track down and bring everyone back to the dojo. The only ones that didn't go back with the rest of the Konoha gang was Asama and Kurenai. They were both happy with the lives they were living in district 40. They had even adopted a son in the past 6 years of being there and they both decided to live as a family as they had both wanted when they were alive. Nobody could fault them for that. Everyone knew that at the time of invasion, Kurenai was pregnant – everyone knew how much she had loved her soon-to-be-born child.

Many were still furious about their friends and their own deaths but as vengeance seemed a little pointless at this stage, everyone had an unspoken agreement that they would just move on.

After 6 years of waiting and searching for days and weeks on end we find all of the Konoha gang (except of course Asama and Kurenai) currently around the table of the dojo in the early morning. They had all over the years steadily felt their spiritual pressure growing and as a result had started to get hungry over the course of the last couple of months. With this new factor to consider they all needed to decide the next course of action…

"It's a shame about Asama-sensei and Kurenai-sensei but we must decide what we plan to do now! I personally think that checking out the academy would be a good course of action?" Spoke a confident and authoritative Sakura; she had over the years become the pseudo-leader so to speak. Despite the older ones giving her advice they decided to let her take charge as her determination to find and bring back Naruto, pushed her harder than anyone else.

Only after getting him back would she and the others relax and enjoy the afterlife.

"…I can see your point as we all have unlocked our spiritual pressure and will need a better more stable line of work to be able to feed ourselves. However, it seems like a bit of a drag to become Shinigami and have to do all that fighting…" drawled the _ever-energetic_ Shikamaru.

"SHIKA-BAKA WILL YOU STOP BEING SO LAZY AND AGREE WITH SAKURA-CHAN RIGHT NOW!" Yelled a furious Ino, who had been listening to Shikamaru for the last 4 years complaining on how hard it was to simply get out of bed. It seems fair enough in my opinion…

"…Troublesome blondes…" that comment of course, lead to an angry red bump on Shikamaru's head as a result of Ino's hardened knuckles.

Long story short everyone just thought it would be easier to go along with Sakura's plan of action. Kakashi and Gai were both saddened with their two long-time friends not coming with them; but understood that part of them were still distraught about the loss of their unborn child. Asama and Kurenai did not want to fight anymore – Gai and Kakashi definitely knew what that felt like as veteran ninjas. They both had an unspoken agreement they their only job was to protect the lives of the Konoha gang, having failed the first time.

There was no room for error this time. Fate had given them another chance and as much as Kakashi and Guy didn't want to start fighting again; they knew that it was their only chance of finding clues to where their long lost blonde had gone.

"Okay so we head off tomorrow for the Seireitei and then the Soul reaper Academy… get some sleep guys, we will all need it if we want to pass this practical exam to get in." said Tsunade calmly to the rest of the gang.

"YOSH! It will be so unyouthful to have to leave such a youthful dojo behind!" yelled Gai in his ever energetic youthfulness.

All the gang, apart from Lee, sighed in exasperation but just kept quiet letting Lee and Gai loudly mourn their dojo.

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The next morning we find the gang all heading off towards the Seireitei with the little possessions they had. To be fair, they hadn't really had any need for any personal things having only been sent there with the clothes they had on.

Lee and Gai still had the 'strange green jumpsuit thing' but having spent time in the more rougher areas of North Rukongai they did learn and started to wear jumpers/coats over them. They wouldn't take it off so the gang had to deal with compromise. Strange youthfulness I guess.

Sakura and Ino and the rest of the 'Konoha 10,' changed to a more traditional wear that was actually quite close to the academy wear. Not that they know this yet.

The rest all were wearing the same clothing they arrived in, all those years ago. They kept them more as a reminder of their failure and the memories of all the others that they haven't seen or heard of since the destruction of their home. This stretching from family members all the way to one time acquaintances.

As they reached the Seireitei the walls automatically fell with great force sending almost all of the gang back a few meters from the sheer force of the walls. However, none of them fell down from the pressure and carried on to the gates like nothing happened.

They were all very quiet, even Sakura and Ino, nerves had settled in especially with the older ones – they had lived a long and treacherous lives that had made them suspicious of anyone they weren't very close to and trust. This of course extended to new people…

The gate guard on duty was Danzomaru – he was in charge of the North Rukongai gate and as such was in-charge of letting people in to the Seireitei. He was a large man with a completely bald head with a strange tattoo on the top.

He glared at the bunch of kids and others that came walking towards him. He stared at them, they were still 100 yards out or so but Danzomaru could see the way they held themselves and immediately identified them as strong fighters…

' _What? What are soul reapers doing in the Rukongai district? In fact they don't even look like Shinigamis like me… be ready for anything!'_

Danzomaru thought silently as he watched the group purposely come closer, they were already for a fight if necessary but ultimately knew that they would not last very long against an army of sword wielding badasses.

They stood there in front of the gate guard all looking ready for a fight if it came to that.

After taking a moment to collect himself; Danzomaru addressed the Konoha group.

"I am Danzomaru the elite gate guard of North Rukongai… (He raises his spiritual pressure after saying that making all the Konoha group sweat and realise that they were outmatched badly)… what is your reason for standing here before me today?"

Kakashi quickly stepped forward before even Sakura could reply and spoke up to the larger man:

"Hello Danzomaru-sama we are a group from all over the Northern Rukongai districts. We would like to attain the academy to become Shinigami if you would be so kind."

This was met by confirming grunts from Tsunade, Neij and Shikamaru. Nods from Tenten, Hinata, Shizune, Sakura, Ino, Chouji and Kiba and with Gai and Lee yelling loudly about his rival/sensei's rival hip attitude… some habits die hard.

"You guys are nothing but lowly Rukongai rats; I mean you must have no Spiri…"

Danzomaru stopped when he felt the amount of Spiritual Pressure they all possessed they already had the spiritual pressure that would make a 15 seat look like a complete beginner. As it was nowhere near his own level he didn't feel them before he actually focussed properly.

The Gang on the other hand, had all got in a defensive stance when hearing those words in order to prove they had what it takes to make it through the academy. However, they were thrown for a loop when without a word; the gate guard turn around and knocked three times on the massive gate.

Within seconds the huge wall and gate rose from the ground and disappeared into the sky for another day.

The Konoha gang just bowed respectfully to the large soul reaper. He just grunted but did nod his head in respect to the fact that they all possessed such impressive Spiritual pressure for clear-newbies to the Soul Society.

Having already gotten the location of the academy some days beforehand they efficiently walked over there. All of them had started to feel the adrenaline pumping around their systems for this next step in their second life.

They had no idea what they were getting into when they signed up to become a Shinigami.

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 **And done** **\- took me ages for such a damn small chapter however, I have been busy and I did rewrite virtually the whole chapter as I wasn't happy with it. Anyway enough of the excuses you guys don't want to hear them I suppose.**

 **Quick reminder again:**

 _ **PLEASE READ: As I intend for Naruto to be part of the Espada I am unsure what ranking I should put him in, so please PM or REVIEW the number you think he should be. I will make a tally of the number and the highest number will be the one I will select.**_

 _ **Please note that no matter what ranking he has, Naruto will be powerful but obviously not too much or there would be no story for me to sink my teeth into…**_

 **Thanks guys and gals for reading my next chapter of The Espada Jinchuriki, just wanted to say a special thanks to DatMatt, Xanderdakka, Antex - The legendary Zoroark, King of the Lion, Cf96, Bleach, Haphaxion, Plums, Toile grant, 1000, Kurifu gari, Anamaria275 and Arya304.**

 **Thanks for the praise/advice you have given me and I hope you continue to do so.**

 **Until next time,**

 **Hollow Lives.**


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